"Mention video to some people and watch their faces fall. If the cliché
of "modern sculpture" used to be a piece of stone chewing gum
with a hole in it, and that of "modern painting" was a canvasful of drips,
then the cliché of "video art" is a grainy
closeup of some U.C.L.A. graduate rubbing a cockroach to pulp on his
left nipple for 16 minutes while the sound track plays amplified tape
hiss, backward."
From the review of the retrospective for Nam June Paik at the Whitney published in Time magazine on May 17th 1982.
This quote popped up in Part 2 of Howard Jacobson's documentary 'Brilliant Creatures', a study of the careers of Barry Humphries, Clive James, Germaine Greer and Robert Hughes. The quote is not only a timely reminder to myself about what I am trying to achieve in video art (visual poetry perhaps?), but classic Hughes cutting to the chase with acerbic wit underpinned by a profundity that most art commentators could only hope for at best. At a time when Australia sadly accelerates backward politically at an alarming rate towards totalitarianism, there is a slight optimism in feeling proud of our cultural heritage and larrikin attitude and honouring those pathfinders who espoused a 'cause' because they believed in it more than their own self-aggrandizement...
Virtual versus reality?
Too often new technology is about itself, so I was pleased to see this virtual orchestra providing not only entertainment and education but challenging the historical conservatism of the classical music field. While remixing and electronic experimentation has become commonplace in contemporary music, the classics have largely remained 'untouchable'. Purists may be horrified, Mendelssohn may roll over in his grave, but I say pump up the volume!
The story of how this was created can be found here...
Mendelssohn Effektorium - Virtual orchestra for Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Museum Leipzig from WHITEvoid on Vimeo.
The story of how this was created can be found here...
Mendelssohn Effektorium - Virtual orchestra for Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Museum Leipzig from WHITEvoid on Vimeo.
Collections of Ottoman Libraries in Bulgaria
Muhammad b. Muhammad al-Aqsara'i al-Tabrizi (d. ca 743/1342)
Commentory to al-Qazwini's (d. 739/1338) work in the field of Rhetorics
Since beginning work earlier this year on a project with contemporary dancer and photographer Deniza Dikova I have become interested in all things Bulgarian. Whether it being watching a documentary on the Theory of Cogitality on Bulgarian National TV, taking a virtual tour of the streets near the Cathedral Saint Alexandar Nevski in Sofia or watching a video of my colleagues improvisation performance in the summer hills, a country that was previously a mystery to me is starting to come to life.
I came across this publication while visiting the Internet Archive and thought it fascinating, not only historically but aesthetically...
The Illusion of Freedom
Arguably my most ambitious project to date I return to my surrealist roots homaging Joseph Cornell and Luis Bunuel. Eroticism, religion, sex and death interspersed with industrial decay and wastelands combine in a mashup that underpins the futility of decadent desire, religious ecstasy and the conflict with the reality of our mundane lives.
I am (again) indebted (and indeed honoured) to be working with the soundscape Ayesha (She Who Must Be Obeyed) (the muse perhaps?) from the album Rosa de lobo by Hyaena Fierling Reich (aka Ana Cordeiro Reis). Her website can be found here...
The album Rosa de lobo can be downloaded from Bandcamp here...
The video files can be downloaded from the Internet Archive here..